The Great and Horrible Door
by DrAgOnLOvEr34
Summary: Donna couldn't remember if the door had been there the whole time, or if it had just now appeared, but she knew, that whatever was behind it, was something great and horrible at the same time. Still, no matter how hard she tried, the door stayed shut. Until one day, it opened.


_**I do not own Doctor Who! Enjoy my story!**_

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**The Great and Horrible Door**

Donna couldn't remember if the door had always been there. It wasn't something that a normal person would question, even if it was in her own mind, because the door wasn't something that people would be curious about.

She just knew she never remembered it when she woke up, because it belonged in her dreams. She would wake up with no memory of the door, but when she went back to sleep she saw it.

The door itself was an older one, almost shorter than her. It was chipped in some places and was made out of some kind of old oak. Some would say it was ugly, but Donna thought it was beautiful, even if it didn't really serve much of a purpose.

It just sat in the corner of her mind. Untouched and mocking her. She had tried numerous times to open, hoping she could take a peek at what was behind it. She had this feeling deep within her, that if she opened it, everything would be better.

She would no longer living with her Gramps and mom. She would no longer be looked at with pity when she walked down the streets. They wouldn't whisper behind her back, talking about how it was so sad her husband had died. She would be someone, which was something she yearned for deeply. She wanted to be important somehow.

She didn't want to be useless.

Sometimes, when she touched the door, she would start to cry. She didn't know why, and most of the time she played it off. Still, deep inside her, she understood why she cried. She understood that she cried because whatever was behind that door was a part of her she would never get back, no matter how much she prayed for it. She understood that whatever it was, it was beautiful, magnificent, and scary.

There were times that she touched it and experienced other emotions besides sadness.

She felt love, so deep and unstoppable for someone for something, that it took her breath away. She never knew she could love someone that much. It almost made her feel guilty when she thought about it, because she knew she never loved her husband like that, even though he had treated her so well.

She felt important when she touched it. Some sort of confidence crept into her being; making her believe everything her Gramps had been telling her all his life. She was important and she was someone that people would look at and think, 'Wow, I want to be like her someday.'

Still, the door stayed shut for as long as she could was alive, until one day, it wasn't.

Donna knew she was old and was probably going to die sometime soon. It was something she bet all old people felt. You just knew your time was coming, because you had been on this earth long enough. So when she went to sleep that night, she knew it would be her last.

Opening her eyes, Donna glanced around her mindscape, giving a sigh of relief when she felt no pain in her bones. When she went to sleep and woke up in her mindscape, she was her younger self again. She could move fast without being blinded by the aches and creeks she felt with her old, frail body.

Sitting up, she glanced around the cheery colored room. Once she got older, she got more memories, happy memories, which filled her head, sitting there like books in a library just waiting to be cracked opened.

Almost out of habit, she glanced at the door, her eyes running over it without a thought, before she looked away. But then she turned back with a gasp.

Something was different.

Walking up to the door, almost nervously, she touched it with shaking hands, and it opened. Donna glanced at it with shock, hardly believing what was happening. An almost gold colored light shined in the room the door led to, some of it escaping the room in wisps.

Reaching out apprehensively, she ran her hands thought the gold like streams, letting out a broken sob when it ran between her fingers. She reached up and touched her cheeks. When had she started crying?

Now that the door was open, she didn't know if she actually wanted to go into the room. Whatever was in it was something that would make her feel whole again. It would make her feel like Donna again.

Taking baby steps, she walked closer and closer until she was standing right before it. She stared into the room, the heavy feeling she had always had inside of her disappearing the longer she did.

Taking a deep breath, she walked into the room...

And fell to her knees with a cry.

The pain was unbearable. It ripped through her entire body, tearing everything away until she felt naked. The pain was so strong; she was surprised she didn't pass out from it. It seemed to remodel her whole person, making her unsure on whom she was anymore.

Then she remembered.

Images upon images raced through her mind, coming and going so fast she could hardly keep up. She pulled out certain words.

Tardis.

Doctor.

Time traveling.

Spaceman.

And one certain sentence stuck out more than all the others. It repeated over and over and over again.

"They will never forget her — while she can never remember. … But for one moment... one shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe."

Finally, the pain stopped and Donna gave a great and horrible sob. She only now had one regret in her life and that was not being able to travel with the Doctor forever, like she promised. He needed someone there to keep him grounded, and she wasn't able to do that. What kind of friend was she?

She wondered if the Doctor made it so she could remember everything right before she was going to die. It was something the Doctor would do.

Donna gave a watery chuckle, and stared down at her hands, which were slowly ageing. Wrinkles upon wrinkles appeared on her whole body and she knew she didn't have long.

Before she left the living world, she spoke one more time.

"I was going to travel with you forever," she took a gasping breath, her eyes slowly closing, "You silly spaceman."

And her eyes finally did close forever, never to open again.


End file.
